STRELNA (near St. Petersburg), July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he does not know why the head of Russia's biggest foreign portfolio investor was barred from entering the country.
American-born William Browder, the head of Hermitage Capital Management Ltd., was denied entry into Russia in November last year, purportedly under a rule that bars foreigners who present a national security threat from entering the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry is yet to comment officially on the matter.
But Vladimir Putin told journalists at a news conference at the end of day two of the Group of Eight summit that he was unaware why Browder, who now holds a British passport, had been banned.
"I will say honestly that I simply do not know the reason why a specific person was denied entry into the Russian Federation," he said.
"I can imagine that this person broke the laws of our country, and if others break the laws, then we will deny [entry] to them," Putin said. "But we will provide every support and assistance to those people who come to our country to work, even more so invest in the Russian Federation, in our economy."
The president said foreign investment - both direct and portfolio - was growing, as was the capitalization of the Russian market.
"Therefore, we are extremely interested not only in the inflow of investment, but in work with decent and professional investors who really want to work in the Russian economy in the long term," he said.
Earlier in the month three U.S. senators wrote a letter to President George Bush asking him to raise the Browder issue when leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations met in St. Petersburg. The three-day summit ends Monday.
The senators said that the situation with the head of the Hermitage Capital Management Ltd., which has invested over $4 billion into Russia, was important to the United States because its citizens and institutions had over $1 billion invested in Browder's funds.
Browder, who has a reputation as a defender of the Russian economy, was optimistic about his visa problems in an interview with RIA Novosti in April this year. He said he hoped the issue would be resolved and added that despite all the problems his company would continue to work in Russia.
